thanks, it is 72 x 62.  I think I'm likely to decorate for Christmas early this year. Maybe after Halloween instead of our usual Thanksgiving.   

I think you are smart to hold on to it.  I just have to believe this housing bubble will burst eventually.  And then we will see a flood of foreclosures when people have borrowed way more than their house is worth.  Part of me would have liked to build a house on our land, but the cost of materials is crazy right now.  And DH is having fund putting together a little camping/hunting apartment.  He purchased two shipping containers, one for storage (tractor & "junk") and the other for an off the grid living space.  He needs a project, right - hahaha.

Dee, your quilt is absolutely stunning!   I admire how you think through every detail (that must be the accountant in you!) and plan every stitch and embellishment.  The quilting is divine ... but you're right ... black on black tends to disappear BUT you know it's there.   The beaded finish is going to be the crowning touch!   I know that I've seen that finish in at least one quilt show in the past ... if you find directions for it, please post.  It looked rather self-evident, but you just never know.  :-)

I think it's just grand that you are going to enter it in the local show!  Whenever I go to local shows ... the small ones ... I'm always blown away at the sheer amount of talent.  Just like you, there are hidden gems everywhere.

The amount of work that you've been doing is phenomenal.  All the going back and forth is tiring, just to read about it.   But you know about that first hand.  I've moved exactly twice in my life: from my parents' house to my apartment and then from that apartment to the house where I live now.  I *know* how much stuff gets accumulated over time and tend not to think about it.  But when you're readying to move out, everything gets exposed and hard decisions need to be made.  While I don't envy you the job,  you've accomplished so much!  Actually getting rid of the unwanted items, either to the dumps or thrift stores or given away, is a very liberating feeling.

I don't remember if you've said what your immediate plans for housing are ... will you be staying in your 5th wheel or renting a place?

thanks Shelley.  I could not find any videos or instructions so I decided to order the book from Bethanne Nemesh, "The Devil's in the Details".   It was $25 which isn't too bad.  I'm hoping there will be some things I wouldn't have considered.  She also has an online video or DVD but I didn't want to spend $79.

I think your DH camping apartment is perfect. A place he can go and be outside but still have a little inside comforts too. Yup the housing market is gonna go down like a Jenga game!!!!! 

Spent all day packing so far and am taking a well needed break. Most of the things in the house are now in boxes, just have some dishes, pots and pans and misc things to go and the inside will be done. DH is making headway in the garage but he still has a long way to go. We are thinking it will be one more trip but at least the inside of the house will be empty and the rental company can prep that and then we can finish up the garage and around the yard some. DH got up in the middle of the night and scheduled some packers for us for two hours tomorrow morning so we can just focus on packing boxes and they will put all of it in the truck!!! Last time we had packers too and they moved all the furniture and heavy stuff in 2 hours, this time there is no furniture just lots of boxes for them.

We are no longer purging anything but rather moving it as we do not have time to sort stuff. We have a great space in DBIL's hanger space at the little private airport to store stuff on shelves so we can go thru stuff there. I already have all my fabric and sewing stuff in the basement and am already going thru stuff in the past week. We also are leaving stuff here in our shed like all the furniture we are keeping as we will be back so that makes sense. I also packed up all the family heirlooms a couple of years ago in heavy duty plastic bins and labeled it all for the girls to get someday...........they did not want it now but maybe down the road they will, if not they can sell it and get a little cash, a lot of it is antiques.

I would love to hear what you think of Bethanne's book when you get it. If it is really good I would like to get a copy too as I love some of the finishes I have seen on her quilts.

I was just searching for sources of the bead garlands and ran across actual garlands.  certainly that would be easier, but I'm guessing the plastic beads would flake off after time.  But the silver ones we have for our actual Christmas tree still look just fine and I don't take any special care of them, just toss them in the box and drag them out again each year.  hmmm, thinking.

Not a problem .. glad you clarified that the technique was from a book.